Author Study/Genre of the Month: Kate DiCamillo

In the past couple of years, I have started to do a "genre of the month" during reading class.  This is loosely based off of The Book Whisperer.  By the way, it is a fantastic and quick read that you won't regret buying.  I highly recommend it!

February's author is Kate DiCamillo.  The genre of the month is Fantasy, and DiCamillo nails it with the vivid mental pictures she creates. 

As with the other months, I put out a bunch of his books to be displayed for the entire month and I choose one to read aloud.  For DiCamillo, I like to read aloud The Tale of Despereaux.  I just love a good underdog story, especially when the underdog is unshakably upbeat no matter when negativity is thrown at him!  This is also another book that has a super cute movie in case you want to do a little comparing and contrasting between the book and the movie.

I really love this author!  Some of my other favs:
Because of Winn-Dixie
Any of the Mercy Watson series
The Tiger Rising

I also have websites available for students to research Kate DiCamillo  and find more books that they want to add to their "To Read" lists.  Harper Collins Publishers has this website called the Author Tracker and Reading Rockets has many more authors on this site.

 

Do you have a genre of the month or an author study?  I'd love to hear what you do with yours!